The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to stacking dissimilar switch information handling systems.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
IHSs such as, for example, switch IHSs, may be “stacked” with one or more other switch IHSs such that the plurality of switch IHSs operate together like a single switch IHS but have a port capacity equal to the sum of the combined switch IHSs. A stacked switch IHS system including a plurality of the switch IHSs may use a single Internet Protocol (IP) address for administration of the stacked switch IHS system, rather than a separate IP address for each switch IHS in the stacked switch IHS system. However, the conventional stacking of switch IHSs requires that each of the switch IHSs in the stack be a switch from the same platform, as switch IHSs from dissimilar platforms may run on different images, use different central processing units (CPUs), and use different network processing unit (NPU) Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). For example, processors used by switch IHSs from dissimilar platforms may use CPUs that differ in endianness (e.g., a first platform switch IHS may utilize an Intel® little-endian CPU while a second platform switch IHS may utilize a PowerPC® big-endian CPU). In another example, the NPU ASIC for a first platform switch IHS may operate using larger table sizes than the NPU ASIC for a second platform switch IHS, while the CPU for the second platform switch IHS may have stronger computing capabilities than the CPU for the first switch IHS. Such asymmetries between the platform details of switch IHSs complicates the stacking of dissimilar switch IHSs.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved stacking system for stacking dissimilar switch IHSs.